Signal for open railway switches and bridges



(No Model.)

D. M. PIKE.

SIGNAL POR OPEN RAILWAY SWITCHES AND BRIDGES.

No. 369,001. I Patented Aug. 30, 1887.

N. PETERS. Pmm-Lnm m hei. Washinglnll. ac.

' UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

DONO'PHAN M. FIKE, OF DEs MoiNEs, IOWA- SIGNAL FOR OPEN RAILWA Y SWITCHES AND BRIDGES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 369,001, dated August 30, 1887.

Application filed November 15, 1886. Serial No. 218,842. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, DONOPHAN M. FIKE, a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of Des Moines, in the county of Polk and State of Iowa, have invented a Signal for Open Railway Switches and Bridges, of which the following is a specification,

My object is to prevent the dangers and accidents and loss of life and propertyincident to railway-trains being wrecked through open switches and broken bridges.

My invention consists in the construction and combination ofa movable flexible arm, a fixed post and bearing to support said arm, with a railway-track. and the lever of a common switch and an alarm bell or gong carried on a locomotive, as hereinafter set forth, pointed out in my claims, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure l is a cross-section view, and Fig. 2 a side view, of a track and a locomotive to which my invention is applied. Fig. 3 is an enlarged top view of the flexible arm in its bearings, and Fig. 4 an end view of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a side view of the flexible arm and rigid guides fixed thereto.

A represents a bar, preferably made of rubber, and b b are straight wooden or metal stiif ening-pieces, that have tongues 0, adapted to slide in grooves or bearings, as required, to guide the reciprocating motions of the arm as it is thrust to and from a passing locomotive on the track.

D represents aframe or case that has grooves or bearings f in its top and bottom adapted to receive the tongues on the pieces I).

Gris apost fixed in the ground at the side of atrack about two hundred yards orother suitable distance from'a switch connected with the same track.

h represents a spring fixed to the end of the arm A and to the end of the case D in such a manner that it will in its normal condition retain the arm within the case. A weight may be substituted for the spring and connected with the bar by means of a cord or chain extended outward therefrom over a pulley.

m is apulley in the side and front end of the case D.

G is a post fixed in the ground at the side of a switch-stand.

m is a pulley at the top of the post.

m are pulleys in parallel position attached to the side of the same post and below the pulley m.

n isa rope or chain fixed to the rear end and side of the arm A and extended over the series of directing-pulleys to the top end of the lever a" of a common switch-operating device.

S is a rock-shaft that extends through bearings fixed to the cab of a locomotive. It has arms S at its ends, that'extend downward at right angles in such a manner that when a switch is open, as shown in Fig. 1, and the arm A thrust out toward the track by the lateral motion of the top of the lever r in either direction, it will comein contact with one of the arms S of the rock-shaft as the locomotive passes and rock the shaft as required to operate a hammer connected therewith, and cause the hammer to strike a bell or gong within reach, and thereby sound an alarm to Warn the fireman and engineer of an open switch and danger in time to arrest the motion of the train and avert accident.

The same device may be combined with a bridge in such a manner that a displacement of the bridge will automatically operate the flexible arm A,and thereby signal to the manager of a train approaching the danger.-

' The arm A is sufficientlys'tiff to operate the rock-shaft or an equivalent bell-ringing device, and sufficiently flexible to prevent its being broken by any blow it may receive from contact with a passing locomotive.

I claim as my invention-- 1. An arm, A, rigid at one end and flexible at the other, in combination with a fixed post at the side of a railway-track, and frame or case having bearings in which to support the sliding arm A, and mechanism connected with the operative mechanism ofa switch, and signal-0perating mechanism on a locomotive, for the purposes stated.

2. The combination of a sliding arm in fixed bearings at the side of a railwaytrack, mechanism combined with the lever of a switch for moving the said sliding arm, and mechanism on a locomotive for operating a signal, for the purposes stated.

3. A railway-signal device composed of the following elements, to wit: a sliding bar in bearings fixed in an elevated position at the sideof a track and some distance from a switch, mechanism forautomatically operatingthe said sliding bar in concert with the switch, and a rQckshaft, S S, or an equivalent device, for operating a signal bell or gong 0n alocomotive, to operate in the manner set forth, for the purposes stated.

4. The flexible bar A, having fixed rigid strips 1), provided with tongues c, in combination with the ease or frame D, having grooves to admit said tongues, the spring h, and the rope or chain a, passed over directing-pulleys and fastened totheswitch-levervysubstantially as shown and desoribedfor thepurposes stated. I5 5. The sliding arm A, the case D, supported upon a post, G, the spring h, the rope or chain n, passed over directing-pulleys m m m and attached to a switch-lever, 1', and a bell or gong operating device, S S S, carried on a loeonio- 2o tive, arranged and combined substantially as set forth, for the purposes stated.

DON OPHAN M. .FIKE. \Vitnesses:

H. E. SPRAGUE, THOMAS G. ORWIG. 

